


The Painful Lesson

by erik_lehnsherr



Series: The Fourteenth's Song [5]
Category: D.Gray Man
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 18:48:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10747668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erik_lehnsherr/pseuds/erik_lehnsherr
Summary: There's no better way for teenage boys to bond than fighting.





	The Painful Lesson

“Neah Campbell!”

The Noah stopped playing his piano for a moment as the newest residents of his home came into the main room. Both were dressed in lighter clothing, and Mana was leading up the back, dressed the same. He scooted around them and insisted, “Neah, we’re going to go train! You need to come!”

The second those hooligans entered the estate, Mana was enchanted by them. Had their mother been in the country, she would have disapproved of her eldest son’s tendency to trust everyone who crossed the property lines. However, the ever so jaded Neah refused to speak to the entourage of the Bookman, sticking to his piano and his room mostly.

Neah replied to his brother, returning stiffly to the music, “You know I don’t do that, Mana.” Neah wasn’t a physical fighter, preferring to stay away from the fighting and use his abilities to decide the battle. His hands were made for music, not war, after all.

Mana wasn’t taking no for an answer, though. He stormed over and dragged Neah up, saying, “What’s the worst that can happen? You’re a Noah, and we’re just a bunch of regular humans!”

Cross unhelpfully recalled, “I bet he’s remembering how Allen knocked him out with one punch. He’s scared.”

With that statement, the paino stool scraped back in protest from Neah’s sudden standing, “It is _on_ , Marian. I’ll make fools of both of you.” It didn’t even occur to the raging Noah that he had fallen for goading, hook, line, and sucker.

Outside, Neah glared daggers at the two men across the field. The four decided to split into teams – Mana and Neah versus Allen and Cross. Mana asked, “Aren’t you going to stretch, Neah?”

“No need,” Neah responded, glaring at Cross in particular when he caught the ginger’s eyes straying to Mana’s stretching form. It didn’t help his brother was showing off his incredible flexibility. Once the others finished, Neah announced, “Alright, rules are simple. Don’t go for the face, because it’s one of my best features.” Allen snickered some, and Neah continued, “Hope you two are ready to get your asses kicked.”

Cross shot back, “A pianist and his brother, I’m so frightened.”

Mana giggled some as Neah’s skin took a gray hue, cross marks spanning across his forehead. The elder twin told his brother, loud enough for the other pair to hear, “They’re underestimating us, brother.”

“They sure are,” Neah responded, “they sure are.”

The four boys managed to badger Bookman out of the library, and now he sat in one of the chairs, a servant holding an umbrella to keep his old man skin from burning. He then counted off, “Three, two, one, fight.”

Neah wasted no time. A director’s wand appeared out of thin air, and he began humming, directing an imaginary band. Mana stood by, arms crossed, much to the confusion of the others. Cross then cursed, “Screw this,” and he burst forward. Allen decided to follow his brother’s lead, going for a flank.

However, before they even got close, the sounds of music drifted around them, and their bodies completely stopped. Neah could tell he even caught the attention of Bookman as the two brothers struggled. Allen demanded, “What the hell is this?!”

Since Neah was preoccupied, Mana explained with a slight laugh, “I bet Neah told you he was called ‘the Musician’ because he played with people’s hearts, or you assumed it was because he played the piano, but neither is true. It’s a family secret, but we’ll let you in on it. It’s one of his abilities – Symphony Chords!”

Cross repeated, “Symphony Chords? What the hell is that?”

“Symphony Chords allows Neah to twist a battlefield to his wishes,” Mana responded. “You two won’t be able to move now!”

“That’s dirty!” Allen barked, fighting against the binds that held him. Mana retorted, “You should know every Noah has their own abilities”

Allen looked helplessly at his master, and Bookman shrugged, “He’s right, Marian. Take this as a painful lesson in knowing everything about your opponent.”

Neah smirked some, his hands moving steadily. Before the match started, he told Bookman to bring ear plugs, since he couldn’t keep the music from affecting his own allies. Even Mana had ear plugs. Of course, the Marian brothers didn’t know that, probably still attempting to work on a way to escape Neah’s spell. As the first song ended, Neah transitioned into the next immediately, not letting the others go. He glanced at Mana, who then stated, “You’ll be released if you surrender.”

Cross snapped, “This was supposed to be a training exercise, like strength, not you using your cheating ability to make us your toys!”

He didn’t faze the brothers, Mana asking Neah, “If they’re our toys now, does that mean I get to keep Cross?” Neah snorted with laughter, losing his beat, and for a second, the Marian brothers were freed. However, Neah quickly corrected himself, catching them once more. Once, though, was enough for Allen to figure out exactly what to do. The Bookman apprentice finally understood Neah’s Symphony Chord – the entire spell counted on Neah keeping his concentration and the opponents hearing the song. While they couldn’t do much about hearing the song, Allen supposes he could whip up a plan real quick to throw Neah off beat.

He said to Cross, “Cross, I think we should just surrender. Neah’s power is too strong. I don’t know about you, but I think I could live with this arrangement.”

Cross stared at his older brother like he was crazy as Allen continued, “I can’t figure out how to break this spell. I mean, it’s not like we can just stop hearing it.”

Mana looked at Neah, then looked back at Allen, “Really?”

“Really.”

Cue Mana falling for it instantly, “We won, Neah! You can let them go!”

Neah attempted to keep the beat as he replied, “Not a chance,” but he got almost a full measure off, and the music fall apart some. He tried catching up again, but the damage was done. The song fell apart, and the other set of brothers made their moves.

Cross went after Mana while Allen set his sights on Neah. Neah’s director’s wand disappeared, and he tried raising his hands to defend himself. However, Neah wasn’t very up to date with hand-to-hand combat, so Allen kicks his ass real quick. Mana holds his own for a good while, keeping up with Cross, but eventually, Cross trips Mana, making the other fall, then he holds Mana down. Neah would have killed for Allen to be over him like Cross was Mana, but instead Allen sat on Neah’s back, his legs crossed and a superior expression on his face, “Checkmate.”

Bookman announced, “The Marian brothers are the winners.”

Neah’s face hurt from the punch Allen delivered. He growled, “Get off of me, fatass.” That only made Allen put more of his weight on him. Cross finally let Mana up, and Mana came to Neah’s rescue, pushing Allen off of him. He then dragged Neah away, wrapping his arms around his twin.

Allen stated, “That was interesting. Any other abilities we should know about from you two?”

The twins exchanged looks, and then Neah countered, “That’s for us to know, and you to find out.”

Cross and Allen helped the injured brothers into the house, and Bookman gave a leveling look to Neah, “That was impressive, young man. I hope to be able to study your ability more.” He then took his leave, returning to the library.

Allen returned from the kitchen with a first aid kit, applying some of the cream to the cut on Neah’s face from Allen accidentally punching him too hard. Mana told the two of them, “I’ll whip something up for lunch, ok?”

“Mana-“

Neah’s brother wasn’t hearing it, disappearing with Cross into the kitchen. Allen asked Neah, “Why did you try to stop him?”

“His cooking is horrible,” Neah answered simply, turning his attention back to Allen. “Sorry about catching you off guard with Symphony Chords.”

Allen returned, “Its ok, Neah. It just showed me that I have a lot more to learn about your family. I didn’t arrive here realizing that there’s more to the Noahs than gray skin and Akuma.”

Neah looked at Allen, and he was about to say something until there was a crash and cursing coming from the kitchen. Neah and Allen moved quickly, running into the kitchen, and honestly, Neah wasn’t sure what he expected.

Glass was strewn all over the ground, and a rather disheveled, blushing Mana was staring at it while and equally tousled Cross was trying to clean it up. Didn’t take a genius to figure out what happened here. Neah deadpanned, “Guess lunch got disagreeable.”

“Guess so?” Mana answered, a sheepish grin on his face. Allen went to help Cross, and Neah crossed his arms, “Way to go, Mana. You could have gotten away with sleeping with the enemy if you hadn’t been so clumsy.”

“Enemy?” That made Allen look at Neah.

Now it was Neah’s turn to flush, “Maybe not.”

Well, Mana isn’t the only one who can ruin the mood.


End file.
